CZECH REPUBLIC: Officials at a chemical plant near Prague have admitted that carcinogenic substances leaked into the River Elbe during last month's heavy flooding, the Prague daily, Lidove Noviny, reported yesterday.
Tests carried out by the government environment agency CIZP found that the Spolana de Neratovice plant, some 20 km north of the Czech capital, had leaked polyvinyl chloride and other carcinogens into the river, the newspaper said.
However, the CIZP's chief inspector, Mr Vaclav Berousek, told the paper that the quantities involved were too small to threaten the environment, adding that about 30 substances had been identified.
The plant leaked some 80 tonnes of liquid chlorine and several dozen tonnes of other chemical substances in mid-August during the worst flooding in living memory in the Czech Republic.
The head of a commission investigating flood damage at the plant said on August 24th that chlorine seepage from the factory could cause a disaster comparable to the 1986 Chernobyl accident at a nuclear power plant in Ukraine.
A factory spokesman dismissed the comments as "exaggerated and overly harsh".
In the Lodove Noviny article, the environmental group Arnika accused the CIZP of minimising the test results. - (AFP)